Bente comes from behind, Veerpalu comes from nowhere, North Americans come a long way.
By Cory Smith

Bente made a huge final surge

February 12, 2002

Women's 10K Classic
When you look at the Olympic schedule, today's classic race doesn't really stand out. It isn't mass start, It isn't pursuit, It isn't a relay, It isn't a sprint. It doesn't have any of the gimmicks that have been added to skiing in recent years to make it more exciting. What it is, is a pure ski race. Each person battling the clock to post the fastest time. To some that might not sound exciting, but I doubt anyone who saw today's race would ever call it boring.

To watch the race, I positioned myself at the one kilometer mark. This point would allow me to see all the skiers climb the first major hill, then sprint up to see them again at 7.5K before sprinting back down to see the finish.

On the first hill, it was fairly easy to pick out the skiers who were on their way to a good race. All of the Russians looked strong. The Norwegians, including Bente Skari,looked very smooth and relaxed, but not especially fast. The Canadian women looked very good. For the American's Nina Kemppel looked very quick, and Wendy Wagner was also skiing strong.

Sara Renner had a great race

As soon as all the favorites had passed by, I ran up to the 7.5K point and tried to take splits with my stopwatch. By this point, Nina Kemppel was looking more tired than she had at the start, maybe she went out too hard. Wendy Wagner looked like she was skiing steady. When Sara Renner came by, she was the second fastest skier up to that point, only 6 seconds from the lead after 40 skiers! She was skiing very well. After a few more skiers had gone by, the Russians appeared to have a lock on the top spots. Olga Danilova was in the lead, followed by Julija Tchepalova and Larissa Lazutina. The only person close to them was Bente Skari, who was about 10 seconds off the pace. Just as I was thinking about the "Russians Sweep" headlines, Beckie Scott came flying by. much sooner than expected. She started 30 seconds behind Skari, and at this point she had only lost 40 seconds to the Norwegian. She was clearly running top ten!

Olga Danilova lead most of the race

I then sprinted down the hill to the finish. By the time I got there, the Russians were all finished and the scoreboard showed their dominance. I saw Bente coming up the last hill before dropping into the stadium, and she only had 1:23 to finish in order to take gold. It seemed like too much time. But as I watched her, it was clear that she was flying up that hill faster than anyone. She either had something saved for the end, or she simply was digging deeper than anyone else. By the time she reached the homstretch, it was clear that she was within striking distance. She kept hammering, which was an impressive display of double pole and kick double pole, and she crossed the line with 2.5 seconds to spare. She had picked up 13 seconds in the final 1.3K! It was a thrilling finish, and almost lost in all the ensuing commotion was Beckie Scott's finish, but not quite. As Beckie rounded the final turn, the announcers took notice and encouraged the crowd to cheer Beckie to her amazing accomplishment. 6th place in the Olympics. In less than 29 minutes Beckie had given hope to cross country skiers across North America. And not only did Beckie prove she is one of the best in the world, but her teammate Sara also did the same, posting an excellent 15th place.

Andrus Veerpalu was the suprise winner, which is why I don't have a good photo of him

Men's 15K Classic
For the men's race, my spectating strategy was the same as for the women. After watching on the first big hill, I sprinted up to the 11K point to take splits. The Americans Freeman, Weaver, and Bauer started before most of the favorites, but even so, their split times appeared to be very good. My approximate times had them all in the top twenty. Hmm, maybe the calculations in my head were off. Then the big guns started coming by. Their times were better than the Americans, but only by seconds, rather than minutes. Then, Estonian Andrus Veerpalu came by and according to my calculations, he was a minute ahead of everyone else. That's it, I gave up. Clearly my splits were way off. There is no way he was that far ahead of everyone else. I didn't even try to see how his time compared to the Norwegians as they came by, because I figured I was completely off. I then sprinted to the finish, where I heard the announcers talking about the Estonian who was dominating the race. I had been right! Sure enough, when Veerpalu crossed the line, he was about 1:15 ahead of the closest competitor. The Norwegians Estil,

John Bauer lead the strong US results

Aukland, Jevne all came in and still the time stood. Eloffson couldn't match it. Veerpalu had won the Gold Medal! Not only that, but his teammate, the last guy to start, had just crossed the line in third.

For the US men, my splits had been right also. John Bauer posted a very impressive 12th - the best US finish in 20 years. Weaver and Freeman were right behind him in 16th and 22nd. I have been telling everyone for the past few months that US skiing is more competitive than ever, and today the guys proved it.

It was a very exciting day on the tracks.

Sweden's Per Eloffson and the Norwegians did not meet high expectations